Project Gutenberg (
PG) is a
volunteer effort to
digitize and archive
cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of
eBooks". It was founded in 1971 by
Michael S. Hart and is the oldest
digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of
public domain books. The project tries to make these as free as possible, in long-lasting,
open formats that can be used on almost any computer. , Project Gutenberg reached 50,000 items in its collection.